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Questions For Palo Alto


Council Candidates
Fellow residents:
The upcoming November Palo Alto local election offers us voters the opportunity
to elect three full term Council members to sit on the newly downsized seven seat
Palo Alto City Council. Three of the candidates are incumbents. The other two
candidates have not previously held elected office.
Changes to our town by increases in people working and living here are
overwhelming us all. We’re all tired of the Council voting for projects that bring
more traffic to town, put demands on our municipal services, and it would seem,
bring little in terms of value to most residents.
The people running for City Council will have to address a myriad of problems in
the future. Before you cast your vote, consider the following:

Problems Currently Facing Palo Alto


• Increasing Cost of Living • Increasing Population Density
• Rising Utility Costs • Long-term Infrastructure Needs/Costs
• Rising Costs of Government • Reduction of Government Services
• Increasing Fee Costs • Limited Influence of Residents on City Policy
• Increasing Traffic/Congestion • Transparency of Fire/Police Department
• Aggressive Stanford Growth • Useless Business Registry System
• San Francisquito Creek Mitigation

Do you have any idea what each of these candidates believes is the
solution to these problems? Has each candidate spoken clearly on
how Palo Alto should solve these matters?
But what other issues face us all?

Will Council Candidates Openly


Address These Questions?
• Why Do So Many Residents (44%) Increasingly Believe City is on “Wrong Track”?
• Is City Government Becoming Too Large?
• Why is City Budget on Auto-Pilot?
• Why Does Council Seem More Concerned About Staff Than Residents?
• City Estimates Total of $425M Over 2018 Revenues By 2028. How Will Money Be Spent?
• With Only 47% of Residents Believing City Utilizes Tax Dollars Effectively--is Council Listening?
• What are City’s Total Long-term Infrastructure Needs and Costs?
• Why Has Public Safety Building Cost Grown to $100M? Will Final Cost Exceed $130M?
• Why Does Council Routinely Just Rubber-Stamp Staff Recommendations?
• Why Has Council Not Solved Parking/Traffic Problems in Palo Alto?
• Why Are Over 1,500 People Currently on City Payroll (Full and Part-Time)?
• Why Are Employee Benefits Now Close to 75% of Salary--and Growing?
• Today--(2019) Each Public Safety Employee Costs Almost $300K Yearly.
• Today--(2019) Each Regular (Non-Safety) Employee Costs Over $200K Yearly.
• Ten Years Out--(2029) Each Employee Will Cost Over $400K Yearly.
• Should There Be Any Limit to Cost of Hiring a City Employee?
• Why Are Some Council Members Costing $34,000-$36,000 Yearly in Stipend and Benefits?
• Why Are Over 1,500 People Drawing Pensions from Palo Alto Government?
• When Will New Taxes Be Needed to Pay Ever Increasing Employee Pension Obligations?
• Why Was Library Project So Poorly Managed by Council?
• Why Involve City in Telecommunications Services Best Left to Private Sector?
• Why is Palo Alto Financing Airport Used Primarily by Non-Residents?
• Why Continued Use of Certificates of Participation (COPs) With No Public Approval?
• Why Are City Funds to be Invested Outside the USA?

Are you happy with the performance of the City Council over
the last four years? Do you want four more years of the same?
Remember--Elections have consequences. Please don’t forget
that. Why do Candidates who won’t speak directly to our
issues and our problems deserve our votes?
Questions of Wayne Martin, a long-time resident of Palo Alto,
before the 2018 City Council Election.
email: wmartin46@yahoo.com

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